Sanders and Lee take their first World Cup gold medals in Madrid
- Monday 21st July 2025
Annie Sanders and Dohyun Lee secured their first-ever gold medals in the Madrid Lead World Cup over the weekend.
Following a 14-year hiatus, the IFSC World Cup roadshow rolled back into Spain for the fifth Lead event of the IFSC season in Madrid; remarkably, the last such international climbing gathering in Spain was back in Barcelona in 2011!
Climbing in her first-ever World Cup, Spanish climber Lucía Sempere González was clearly psyched about the World Cup coming to Spain. “I think it’s really good for our country and our team. People can see that we exist, and that’s really good for us,” she said before adding what many were thinking, “It's going to be so hot. It’s the hottest month of the year, so everyone needs to drink a lot of water.” Recognising the heat issues, the organisers scheduled the various rounds either early or late in the day, hoping to avoid the worst of the heat.
Another “stand-out” feature of the various rounds in both the women’s and the men’s event was that many of the climbers fell high on the respective routes – often with a significant number of the athletes all falling at or about the same points. In the men’s semi-final, for example, the top 15 climbers all fell between moves 42 and 47; a similar situation occurred in the final, with the top six falling between moves 38 and 40. Although the women’s semi-final had a similar issue, the women’s final had a lower hard section, which caught out some competitors, Chaehyun Seo included.
Heat and setting considerations aside, it was Annie Sanders and Dohyun Lee who succeeded where more experienced lead climbers came up short. For both Sanders and Lee, it was their first-ever Lead gold medals. Securing a top in the final and her first gold meant that Sanders became the first American woman to win both Lead and Boulder World Cup golds; she’s now only the ninth woman to take that honour. Likewise, Dohyun Lee’s win is significant for the South Korean climbing community as his gold is only the second ever won in Lead by a South Korean male climber. By comparison, Lee is now the 12th man to win gold medals in both Lead and Boulder.
Joining Annie Sanders on the women’s podiums were Laura Rogora and Brooke Raboutou; Alberto Gines Lopez and Satone Yoshida made up the men’s podium.
Sadly, podium regular Erin McNeice wasn’t able to maintain her podium streak of the season and finished just one place down in fourth. Crucially, however, Erin McNeice extended her lead over Chaehyun Seo in the 2025 season’s standings; McNeice now has 3892pts ahead of Chaehyun Seo on 3657pts and Laura Rogora on 3210pts, with Annie Sanders trailing on 3040pts. The men’s top three places in the season’s standing are more clustered, with Alberto Gines Lopez now on 3680pts, Satone Yoshida on 3520pts and Sorato Anraku on 3145pts.